random thoughts about obscure or interesting musical instruments and the people who make them and play them

Thursday, May 13, 2010

The Pocket Picker

Now here's a unique practice device for all you stringed instrument players out there. It's called the "Pocket Picker", and it's designed to exercise your right hand in all of those situations where it's inconvenient to practice your instrument. I am not sure if it's practical, but's definitely innovative. Out of all of the devices, I think that the bass guitar is likely the most useful, since practicing the finger technique for your right hand on the bass is crucial to your sound. The device is a small board with a course of strings aligned like an actual instrument. In the case of the bass guitar, there's actually a small part of the fretboard included so that you can practice your slap technique.

There are several different models, including one for steel string guitar, classical guitar, bass guitar, banjo, mandalin. I think that they need to add one for shamisen and go after the Japanese market...